With these new Regency soft fashions and the new…

…silhouette, simpler and lighter types of stays were worn.  At first they were cut like previous ones but made of lighter and less stiff materials and bones, but as the body of the dress shortened, the stays began to shrink in size too.  The back became short, and the front long.   Tabs at the waistline were eventually discarded entirely.

(Extant: 1805 cotton corset)